scholarly journals High altitude adaptation mitigates anemia risk associated with diabetes among the Mosuo of Southwest China

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
M Su ◽  
K Wander ◽  
MK Shenk ◽  
T Blumenfield ◽  
H Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
High Altitude ◽  
Market Integration ◽  
Hypoxia Inducible Factor ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Low Oxygen ◽  
High Altitude Adaptation ◽  
Altitude Adaptation ◽  
Hb Concentration

AbstractHuman populations native to high altitude regions (≥2500 m) exhibit numerous adaptations to hypoxic stress. On the Tibetan Plateau, these include modifications of the hypoxia inducible factor (HIF) pathway to essentially uncouple erythropoiesis (red blood cell production) and blood hemoglobin (Hb) concentration—which normally increase in response to low oxygen—from hypoxia. Uncoupling of erythropoiesis and hypoxia is also observed among people with diabetes due to damage to kidney tissues. This is hypothesized to result in elevated risk for anemia among diabetics, which increases risk for cardiovascular disease and death. We tested the hypothesis that the independence of erythropoiesis from HIF among high-altitude adapted populations of the Tibetan Plateau may protect against diabetes-associated anemia. We investigated this hypothesis among the Mosuo, a population living in Yunnan Province, China (at ~2800 m altitude) that is undergoing rapid market integration and lifestyle change, with concomitant increase in risk for type 2 diabetes. We found that, although diabetes (glycated hemoglobin, HbA1c ≥6.5%) is associated with anemia (females: Hb<12g/dl; males: Hb<13g/dl) among the Chinese population as a whole (N: 5,606; OR: 1.48; p: 0.008), this is not the case among the Mosuo (N: 316; OR: 1.36; p: 0.532). Both pathways uncoupling hypoxia from erythropoiesis (diabetic disease and high altitude adaptation) are incompletely understood; their intersection in protecting Mosuo with diabetes from anemia may provide insight into the mechanisms underlying each. Further, these findings point to the importance of understanding how high-altitude adaptations interact with chronic disease processes, as populations like the Mosuo experience rapid market integration.

scholarly journals The Expression Regulatory Network in the Lung Tissue of Tibetan Pigs Provides Insight Into Hypoxia-Sensitive Pathways in High-Altitude Hypoxia

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yanan Yang ◽  
Haonan Yuan ◽  
Tianliang Yang ◽  
Yongqing Li ◽  
Caixia Gao ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Altitude ◽  
Regulatory Networks ◽  
Alveolar Wall ◽  
Potential Candidate ◽  
Low Oxygen ◽  
Structure Damage ◽  
High Altitude Adaptation ◽  
Tibetan Pigs ◽  
Altitude Adaptation ◽  
Insight Into

To adapt to a low-oxygen environment, Tibetan pigs have developed a series of unique characteristics and can transport oxygen more effectively; however, the regulation of the associated processes in high-altitude animals remains elusive. We performed mRNA-seq and miRNA-seq, and we constructed coexpression regulatory networks of the lung tissues of Tibetan and Landrace pigs. HBB, AGT, COL1A2, and EPHX1 were identified as major regulators of hypoxia-induced genes that regulate blood pressure and circulation, and they were enriched in pathways related to signal transduction and angiogenesis, such as HIF-1, PI3K-Akt, mTOR, and AMPK. HBB may promote the combination of hemoglobin and oxygen as well as angiogenesis for high-altitude adaptation in Tibetan pigs. The expression of MMP2 showed a similar tendency of alveolar septum thickness among the four groups. These results indicated that MMP2 activity may lead to widening of the alveolar wall and septum, alveolar structure damage, and collapse of alveolar space with remarkable fibrosis. These findings provide a perspective on hypoxia-adaptive genes in the lungs in addition to insights into potential candidate genes in Tibetan pigs for further research in the field of high-altitude adaptation.

scholarly journals Altitude-wise analysis of co-occurrence networks of mitochondrial genome in Asian population

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rahul K Verma ◽  
Cristina Giuliani ◽  
Alena Kalyakuina ◽  
Ajay Deep Kachhvah ◽  
Mikhail Ivanchenko ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mitochondrial Genome ◽  
High Altitude ◽  
Dna Sequences ◽  
Group Analysis ◽  
Asian Population ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Mt Dna ◽  
High Altitude Adaptation ◽  
Altitude Adaptation ◽  
The Impact

ABSTRACTFinding mechanisms behind high altitude adaptation in humans at the Tibetan plateau has been a subject of evolutionary research. Mitochondrial DNA (mt-DNA) variations have been established as one of the key players in understanding the biological mechanisms at the basis of adaptation to these extreme conditions. To explore cumulative effects and dynamics of the variations in mitochondrial genome at varying altitudes, we investigated human mt-DNA sequences from NCBI database at different altitudes by employing co-occurrence motifs framework. We constructed co-occurrence motifs by taking into account variable sites for each altitude group. Analysis of the co-occurrence motifs using similarity clustering revealed a clear distinction between a lower and a higher altitude region. In addition, the previously known high altitude markers 3394 and 7697 (which are definitive sites of haplogroup M9a1a1c1b) were found to co-occur within their own gene complexes indicating the impact of intra-genic constraint on co-evolution of nucleotides. Furthermore, an ancestral marker 10398 was found to co-occur only at higher altitudes supporting the fact that a separate root of colonization at these altitudes might have taken place. Overall, our analysis revealed the presence of co-occurrence motifs at a whole mitochondrial genome level. This study, combined with the classical haplogroups analysis is useful in understanding role of co-occurrence of mitochondrial variations in high altitude adaptation.

scholarly journals Genome-Wide Epigenetic Signatures of Adaptive Developmental Plasticity in the Andes

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ainash Childebayeva ◽  
Jaclyn M Goodrich ◽  
Fabiola Leon-Velarde ◽  
Maria Rivera-Chira ◽  
Melisa Kiyamu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Dna Methylation ◽  
Genetic Variation ◽  
High Altitude ◽  
Developmental Plasticity ◽  
Hypoxia Inducible Factor ◽  
Adaptation To Hypoxia ◽  
High Altitude Adaptation ◽  
Altitude Adaptation ◽  
Epigenetic Signatures ◽  
Adaptive Developmental Plasticity

Abstract High-altitude adaptation is a classic example of natural selection operating on the human genome. Physiological and genetic adaptations have been documented in populations with a history of living at high altitude. However, the role of epigenetic gene regulation, including DNA methylation, in high-altitude adaptation is not well understood. We performed an epigenome-wide DNA methylation association study based on whole blood from 113 Peruvian Quechua with differential lifetime exposures to high altitude (&gt;2,500) and recruited based on a migrant study design. We identified two significant differentially methylated positions (DMPs) and 62 differentially methylated regions (DMRs) associated with high-altitude developmental and lifelong exposure statuses. DMPs and DMRs were found in genes associated with hypoxia-inducible factor pathway, red blood cell production, blood pressure, and others. DMPs and DMRs associated with fractional exhaled Nitric Oxide (FeNO) also were identified. We found a significant association between EPAS1 methylation and EPAS1 SNP genotypes, suggesting that local genetic variation influences patterns of methylation. Our findings demonstrate that DNA methylation is associated with early developmental and lifelong high-altitude exposures among Peruvian Quechua as well as altitude-adaptive phenotypes. Together these findings suggest that epigenetic mechanisms might be involved in adaptive developmental plasticity to high altitude. Moreover, we show that local genetic variation is associated with DNA methylation levels, suggesting that methylation associated SNPs could be a potential avenue for research on genetic adaptation to hypoxia in Andeans.

scholarly journals Genetic signatures of high-altitude adaptation in Tibetans

2017 ◽  
Vol 114 (16) ◽  
pp. 4189-4194 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jian Yang ◽  
Zi-Bing Jin ◽  
Jie Chen ◽  
Xiu-Feng Huang ◽  
Xiao-Man Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Altitude ◽  
Methylenetetrahydrofolate Reductase ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
High Altitude Adaptation ◽  
Drift Model ◽  
Genome Wide ◽  
A Genome ◽  
Altitude Adaptation ◽  
Genetic Signatures ◽  
Genome Wide Study

Indigenous Tibetan people have lived on the Tibetan Plateau for millennia. There is a long-standing question about the genetic basis of high-altitude adaptation in Tibetans. We conduct a genome-wide study of 7.3 million genotyped and imputed SNPs of 3,008 Tibetans and 7,287 non-Tibetan individuals of Eastern Asian ancestry. Using this large dataset, we detect signals of high-altitude adaptation at nine genomic loci, of which seven are unique. The alleles under natural selection at two of these loci [methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) and EPAS1] are strongly associated with blood-related phenotypes, such as hemoglobin, homocysteine, and folate in Tibetans. The folate-increasing allele of rs1801133 at the MTHFR locus has an increased frequency in Tibetans more than expected under a drift model, which is probably a consequence of adaptation to high UV radiation. These findings provide important insights into understanding the genomic consequences of high-altitude adaptation in Tibetans.

scholarly journals EPAS 1, congenital heart disease, and high altitude: disclosures by genetics, bioinformatics, and experimental embryology

2019 ◽  
Vol 39 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Consolato Sergi
Keyword(s):  
Congenital Heart Disease ◽  
Heart Disease ◽  
High Altitude ◽  
Congenital Heart ◽  
Hypoxia Inducible Factor ◽  
Gene Mutations ◽  
Epidemiologic Studies ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Low Oxygen ◽  
Downstream Target

Abstract The high-altitude environment is a challenge for human settlement. Low oxygen concentrations, extreme cold, and a harsh arid climate are doubtlessly challenges for the colonization of the Tibetan plateau. I am delighted to comment on the article of Pan et al. (2018) on mutations in endothelial PAS domain-containing protein 1 (EPAS1) in congenital heart disease in Tibetans. In humans, the EPAS1 gene is responsible for coding EPAS1 protein, an alias of which is HIF2α, an acronym for hypoxia-inducible factor 2 alpha. EPAS1 is a type of hypoxia-inducible factors, which are collected as a group of transcription factors involved in body response to oxygen level. EPAS1 gene is active under hypoxic conditions and plays an essential role in the development of the heart and in the management of the catecholamine balance, mutations of which have been identified in neuroendocrine tumors. In this article, Pan et al. investigated Tibetan patients with and without non-syndromic congenital heart disease. They identified two novel EPAS1 gene mutations, of which N203H mutation significantly affected the transcription activity of the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) promoter, particularly in situations of hypoxia. VEGF is a downstream target of HIF-2 (other than HIF-1), and the expression levels of either HIF-1α or HIF-2α correlate positively to VEGF expression. Pan et al.’s data may be of incitement to further evaluate protein–protein interaction and using experimental animal models. Moreover, it may also be a stimulus for setting up genetic epidemiologic studies for other populations living at high altitudes.

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